Abernathy, Barry

BARRY ABERNATHY

  • From Georgia.
  • A banjo player with a remarkable ability to play Scruggs-style banjo despite a birth defect which left him with no fingers on his left hand, just a thumb and several partial digits.
  • 1993, joined Silver Creek.
  • 1994, joined Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver.
  • 1997, joined IIIrd Tyme Out.
  • 1998, was a founding member of Mountain Heart.
  • 2014, left Mountain Heart to strike out on his own.
  • 2016, had surgery to repair nerve damage in his neck, which hindered his playing.
  • 2018, teamed up with Darrell Webb (guitar/mandolin) to form Appalachian Road Show.
  • 2019, he and his wife adopted a pair of siblings from a foster care facility including a youngster with the same birth defect on his hand as Barry. The story of the Abernathy family was then featured in a 2020 story on NBC’s The Today Show and also on the syndicated Mike Huckabee television program.
  • 2021, released Barry Abernathy and Friends album (Billy Blue).